Good afternoon, Prof. Lo Chung Mau, Secretary for Health, Health Bureau, Prof. Philip Li, President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Dr. the Honorable David Lam, Legislative Councillor, Legislative Council, Dr. Joanna So, Assistant Director of Health, Department of Health, Dr. Ching Wai Kuen, Director, Strategy and Planning, Hospital Authority, Presidents and representatives from Sister Colleges, Fellows, Members, Associates, ladies and gentlemen.
May I welcome you all to the conferment ceremony of our College this afternoon.
Congratulations:
Firstly, it is with immense pride that I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our new Fellows. This occasion marks a new milestone to recognize your tremendous effort in your specialist training, but this is not the end. Today, as you stand on the threshold of new opportunities, you embody the promise of a brighter future. It is important to thank your mentors, trainers and colleagues for their guidance, as well as your patients, whom you have helped manage, for providing you with valuable training opportunities. As newcomers to our College, you will sooner or later adopt new roles and responsibilities in your career development. I look forward to your contributions in the days to come. Please also be reminded to undergo your CME/CPD programs in a timely manner.
For those Members in the audience who have already passed their intermediate exams, I am sure it will soon be your turn for Fellowship conferment.
Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Faculty Development:
Our College, as one of the constituting Colleges in the Academy, will continue to align with the Academy’s initiatives. Following the initiatives of Faculty Development, some of our College Fellows have actively participated in the Academy’s Basic Medical Education Courses. Our College will continue to explore developments in other aspects of Faculty Development. The Academy has organised the Medical Education Conference on 27 September 2025, and a Position Statement Workshop on 28 September 2025. A number of topics were covered in the conference, particularly about the integration of the technologies in medical education. Many of us enjoyed this Academy flagship event. The integration of new technology in post-graduate medical education will be one of the directions our College will consider. Some of us, including me, participated in the Position Statement Workshop on 28 September 2025, and this Position Statement will serve as the cornerstone for our College’s further explorations.
Digital Pathology and Artificial Intelligence:
I believe all of you have witnessed the tremendous development of artificial intelligence in medical care recently. It is also a hot topic in the field of Pathology. Having reviewed last year’s speech, I realize that the content of the annual speech would not capture the rapid developments and transformative changes in the laboratory medicine. It may quickly become outdated if I continue to discuss the recent developments in digital pathology and the adoption of artificial intelligence over the past few months.
On the contrary, today’s speech will focus on the future developments expected in the next 2 to 3 years. I believe it is too early to predict developments over the next decade, as the impact and transformation are so drastic and substantial. The adoption of artificial intelligence has been brought up in various aspects of laboratory medicine, from barcode reading and specimen tube recognition to report drafting, integration of genetic data for clinical interpretation, prediction of clinical outcomes, and most recently, image analysis. I consider all of these as tools available for our clinical use. Furthermore, I believe the adoption of artificial intelligence, in particular in image analysis, will also open a new page in research.
With increasing experience, we have come to appreciate the advantages of adopting artificial intelligence in our clinical practice, e.g. increased working efficiency, enhanced diagnostic accuracy and minimized errors due to repetitive tasks. As leaders in the pathology, we recognize the limitations and pitfalls of various artificial intelligence models. I am pleased to share that the introduction of digital pathology and the application of artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy of histopathological and cytological examinations have been highlighted in the Chief Executive’s 2025 Policy Address. It is gratifying that our clinical duties have drawn public attention. Nevertheless, pathologists are in the right position to carefully apply our professional knowledge to choose the right tools for our clinical practice. Similar to our experiences with new technology and diagnostic tools, careful planning, evaluation of the clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness analysis are all important considerations in our roles and responsibilities as pathologists.
Green Pathology and Well-being:
This year, our College has utilized funding from the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Government for well-being initiatives and the use of electronic examination platform as part of our Green Pathology initiative. We have received positive feedbacks on our well-being activities and we shall explore enhancement of these activities next year. For the electronic examination platform, the experiences for both candidates and examiners have been promising. In the coming two years, we aim to expand the scope of conducting examinations via the electronic platform. I deeply hope that one day we can fully implement the electronic platform for all examination components. Who knows? Maybe we can even adopt artificial intelligence for viva exam through an electronic platform in the future.
About dinner:
This year, our College is honoured to welcome prestigious guests to join our Annual Dinner this evening. We encourage our College Fellows, Members and Associates to stay for the T.B. Teoh Foundation Lecture on “Between Slides and Soul: Finding Fulfilment at the Intersection of Practicing Histopathologist and Translational Researcher” by Prof. TO Ka Fai, followed by our Annual Dinner.
2025 Legislative Council General Election:
With less than one month to go before the 2025 Legislative Council General Election, the atmosphere is heating up. It is anticipated to be a very competitive election year in different constituencies. I would like to remind all of you to mark 7 December, and cast your votes and exercise your right and fulfil your responsibilities to elect capable Legislative Council members.
Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have contributed to the preparation of this event. It has been a lot of hard work, as always. I wish everyone the best in the days to come.
Dr MAK Siu Ming
President
15 November 2025